RWBY: Shadows Ascend
by SkagthePrinceofHell
Summary: It has been a year since Ruby has been at Beacon but our story does not start here and does not star her. We set our sights on the Shadow Lands, more specifically on a boy that called this place home. A member of the Cimmerian clan, a barbarian clan long thought dead but alive and well in the land infested with Grimm. At least that's how it was suppose to be.


Chapter One: The Shadow Lands

* * *

It was night, around ten judging by the position of the stars.

The stars were out and the moon was full.

The land was blanketed by a dim light that was just enough to light the whole land so one could see.

And what was there to see?

The land was a vast plain littered with hills and forest stretching as far as the eyes could see.

The plains were still and quiet save for the wind that brushed the grass with a low whistle.

It may come to no surprise that this area was dubbed the Shadow Lands.

However the reason for the name was actually different.

The reason this land was dubbed the Shadow Lands was not because of the scenery but its inhabitants.

The Grimm.

The Shadow Lands lay between the kingdoms of Vytal and Vacuo.

The Grimm that appeared in both kingdoms originated from the Shadow Plains but those are only a few of the many types of Grimm that live primarily in the Shadow Plains.

It is said that once mankind called the Shadow Plains home but when the Grimm appeared that all changed and the Shadow Plains were thought to be uninhabitable for humans because of this.

Because of this danger the main forms of contact the two kingdoms have with each other are either by boat, dust plane or extranet.

But that does not mean fool hearty travelers don't enter the Shadow Lands.

Like this man who has made his camp in a tall tree one of the Shadow Lands.

He is a scientist named Vicvin Stein, a traveling Hunter and scientist form Vale.

He has been a leading researcher in both the Grimm and Dust for most of his life and does so through his various travels throughout the lands of Remnant.

The shocking part is he does this all by himself.

He travels to the most dangerous and exotic lands to do research with no one but himself and his Hunters weapons, the Dust Cloak and Lightning Thorn daggers.

He cares nothing of danger as the pursuit of knowledge and understanding has been his life's calling and the more mysterious the topic the more interested he gets, becoming consumed with the felling to know more about the topic.

So it is of no surprise that he researches the most mysterious topics, the Grimm and Dust, for even though people have know of either subject for years there is still so much to learn about either subject.

Today however Vicvin is focusing on the Grimm that live in the Shadow Lands and the Shadow Lands in general.

You see, as of late there has been unusual activity with the Grimm in the Shadow Lands.

Some of the more high level Grimm of the Shadow Lands have been venturing into the outer areas of the kingdoms of Vytal and Vacuo and this has the two kingdoms worrying that the Grimm might be attacking soon in large hordes.

Seeing this Vicvin has traveled to the Shadow Lands to see what might be causing these Grimm to venture from their homelands.

'_It has been a month since I have entered the Shadow Lands_' Vicvin writes in his journal '_and there have been no clear indication of the Grimm needing to venture outside the Shadow Lands. It might just be the Grimm are simply traveling away from the Shadow Lands as a response to their growing numbe-_' "HOOOWWWLLLL!"

Vicvin looked up from his journal to hear the howling of an Alpha Beowolf from deeper inside the forest.

He knew he was too far away for beast to notice his presents but he was always wary of his surroundings, especially on his expeditions.

After a while Vicvin believed the dangers of a confrontation was over so he looked backed to his notes and continued to write.

'_-rs. Though I find this unlikely as the Grimm seem to be less prevalent than I originally assumed, but this only leads me to a different question, why are there less Grimm. Initially people assumed the Shadow Lands were timing with Grimm and you couldn't even step close to its borders without running into a Class A Grimm but I have traveled around eight miles into the Shadow Lands without much trouble from the Grimm and the Grimm I have encountered are barely Class C. Is there something in the Shadow Lands killing Grimm? Though I have thought that maybe the Grimm are simple killing each other to eat if the Shadow Lands resource have dwindled it appears to be the opposite. The land maybe called the Shadow Lands but it is a fertile land, there is water to drink and the normal wildlife are abundant as well, though I do see that the game animals are around the same rarity as the Grimm. I suspect that something is hunting them along with the Grimm, but again what could be hunting the Grimm this far into their own territory. I plan to go further into the Shadow Lands tomorrow morning. If I am to find any new information on this force that is killing the Grimm I am sure to find it closer to the heart of the Shadow Lands.'_

After finishing his notes Vicvin felt the need to use the bathroom.

Standing up on the branch he unzipped his pants and started to pee.

Though it was a small thing Vicvin loved the fact he could basically relieve himself wherever he was when he traveled.

He remembered one time seeing a sleeping Ursa in a gorge below him and had, in his opinion one of the dumbest but funniest idea he had ever had.

He unzipped his pants and peed right on the things head aiming a little for its eye.

This subsequently pissed off the Ursa but it could do nothing as Vicvin was too high up.

Vicvin considered this one of the best moments of his life but he never had the chance to tell someone about this moment do to his work and the fact he was not a very sociable man.

He never talked much with his colleagues because he never saw the point to.

He would talk to them about what they were working on but never talked about theirs or his own personal life.

Vicvin always found it odd how he felt alone when he knew it was primarily his fault but he did so regardless.

"Maybe I should take on a apprentice soon? I'm not getting any younger and it's not like I'll be having a kid anytime soon." He mumbled to himself as he was finishing up.

"AAAHHHHH!"

Suddenly Vicvin heard a scream.

However it was not a scream of a Grimm but that of a child.

The logical side of him thought he was just hearing things as there should be no humans this far into the Shadow Lands except for himself.

But the Hunter part of him, the part of him that wanted to protect not only himself but others made his body grab his Dust Veil and Lightning Thorn daggers.

Weapons in hand Vicvin activated the daggers grappling hook function and swung off into the forest, towards the direction of the scream.

* * *

After swing from tree to tree for a few moments Vicvin hear another scream and then saw in tree fall in the same direction along with a Deathstalker.

Vicvin also saw the source of the screams, a boy in ragged clothing trembling before the beast in pure horror as the Deathstalker raised its right claw to kill the boy.

Seeing this Vicvin wasted no time and got straight to work.

Swinging in low to the ground Vicvin grabbed the boy with one arm as his eyes were close thinking this was the end.

The Deathstalkers claw hit the ground but saw that it had not killed the boy and screeched with anger.

The boy soon realized he wasn't dead and opened his eyes to see Vicvin looking at him.

"Yeah, you ain't dead kid." Vinvin told the dumbstruck boy.

With the boy safely in his arms Vicvin knew the Deathstalker would not simply give up after finding its prey so he needed to get the boy a safe distance away before he could deal with the Deathstalker.

Vicvin landed on the ground a good ways away from the Deathstalker and tried to talk to the him.

"Kid, you have to listen to me okay." He said this in a quick haste not wanting to panic the boy any further but still aware of the immediate danger.

The boy looked up at Vicvin with eyes full of shook.

The boy did nothing as Vicvin continued to talk to him.

"Look I know your scared but you have to trust me if you want to live. I have to kill that thing so stay here and-"

"No! No, I don't want to live!" The boy yelled with tears in his eyes.

Vicvin was shocked to hear this.

What person, especially a child didn't want to live?

"What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean you don't want to live?"

"I don't deserve to live! I am nothing but a burden and I don't want the clan being killed because of me! So just let me die!"

Vicvin didn't know what to say to the boy, but the time for talk was later as he turned his head back and saw the Deathstalker charging towards them.

"This is ridicules!" Yelling this Vicvin grabbed the kid and shoot one of his daggers grappling hooks into a nearby tree branch, pulling them towards it.

The boy was struggling in Vicvins arms, seemingly wanting to fall.

"Look kid, I don't know your story but I do know one thing, you don't want to die!"

"Yes I do! I don't want someone dying because of me! So let go-"

"A person that wanted to die wouldn't scream in horror of their executor!" Vicvin yelled at the boy who stopped struggling and looked straight into Vicvin's eyes.

"Like I said I don't know what's happened to in your life but a person who screamed in fear of certain death does not want to die." Vicvin stressed the 'does not'.

"Look, I'm going to save you alright and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

The boy didn't answer and simply nodded.

With that Vicvin landed again and this time got the kid too corporate.

"I'll be back soon okay so don't run away, got it?"

"I couldn't even if I tried." The boy said, making Vicvin look at his legs.

They didn't look broken but they did look like skinny, unhealthily so.

Vicvin began to understand the boy's situation a little.

"I see. I'll be back." With that Vicvin shoot one of his daggers grappling hooks into a tree branch and left to fight the Deathstalker.

* * *

Vicvin knew the boy would be safe long enough for him to kill the Grimm and get somewhere safer.

Deathstalkers claimed large territories and were rather powerful Grimm so even the other Grimm stayed away from its territory.

Returning his attention to the Grimm Vicvin swung in front of the Deathstalker to get its attention.

"Yeah, brain full of rocks! Over here!" He shouted at the Grimm which attacked him in response, slamming its claw down at the area Vicvin was standing in.

Vicvin rolled out of the way of the attack as the Deathstalker seeing Vicvin dodge plunged its stinger in the area he was rolling to.

Vicvin planned for this and using his daggers grappling hooks aimed for the Deathstalkers other claw and pulled himself towards it.

He then ran up the Deathstalkers arm as it was trying to pull its golden stinger out of the ground.

Vicvin knew one of the few parts of the Deathstalker not covered in its harden carapaces was its eyes and shoot both of his daggers grappleing hooks into two of its ten eyes and then activated the reason his daggers were called Lightning Thorns.

The Deathstalker screech in pain as a thousand watts of electricity was surging through its eyes and in turn going directly into its brain.

Just to seal the deal Vicvin activated his semblance, which just so happened to be electricity.

Charging his Lightning Thorns attack to the fullest Vicvin roared as he let loose his most powerful attack.

"Scribe Lightning!"

The Deathstalker screeched out one last hellish screech as its body, now coursing with electricity began to glow electric blue, lighting up the night.

* * *

After holding his attack for a whole ten seconds just to be sure it was dead Vicvin retracted the grappling hooks and swung his way back to the boy.

Finding the boy still under the tree he left him at Vicvin landed a few yards away and approached the boy slowly.

"It's dead now; you don't have to be scared now." Vicvin said calmly.

"Why did you save me?" The boy looked up at Vicvin with tears in his eyes.

"Because you didn't want to die." Vicvin replied plainly.

"I may not have wanted to die but it would have been better if I had." The boy continued to cry while trying to wipe the tears away.

"Right there, I still don't get why you wanted to die. You said you were a burden to your clan but how."

"I can't fight. My body has been weak ever since I was little. I couldn't train to fight the Grimm and I worried my mom all the time. I thought the least I could do was help around the village but I couldn't even do that anymore when my legs began to fail. I couldn't even walk by myself and need a crutch to help and I just got sicker from there."

"And let me guess, you thought it be better for everyone if you were dead so they wouldn't have to worry about you, right?"

The boy nodded "I didn't think anyone would miss me so I walked out of the camp and made my way into the forest. I wasn't strong enough to kill myself so I decided to let one of the Grimm inside the forest kill me off. " The boy was still crying letting out everything wrong with his life to the person who saved him.

Vicvin listened to the boy's story, not knowing what to say in response.

But now Vicvin understood the boy's actions.

If he cared some much for his clan that he would be willing to kill himself, even if his body was weak the boy's heart was strong though a little misgudied.

The boy had stop talking for a while, his crying the only sounds that came from him.

Vicvin then notice something odd about the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder.

He then closed his eyes and tried to sense the boy's aura.

The boy felt Vicvin's hand and looked up at him expecting him to speak.

Vicvin's eyes shoot open, which surprised the boy a little as Vicvin then asked the boy a question.

"Hey kid, do you know what Aura is?"

"Yeah it's the thing that comes from our souls. It's an energy that people can use to protect themselves and stuff. But I don't have one, it's the reason I'm sick and can't walk." The boy looked like he was going to cry again "The Grimm can't use aura either."

"Hey, you're not a Grimm but I do know what's wrong with you and I can fix it."

"Really!?" The boy was shocked "You can fix me!?" The boy's eyes filled with hope at the thought that he could get better, cured even.

Vicvin was about to answer him when several voices called out in the darkness.

"Ivory!"

"Ivory!"

"Ivory, can you hear us!?"

Vicvin looked in the direction of the voices and saw a few orange-red lights and the shadows that they illuminated on the trees.

"Mom!?" The boy cried as he recognized one the of the voices.

"Guess I know your name now huh, Ivory." Vicvin said as he grabbed Ivory with one of his arms and held him in it. "My names Vicvin by the way. Now let's get you back home and start your treatment. You have a long way to go before you're stronger but I can tell you can make it. You want to be strong right?" Vicvin asked rhetorically, as the "Yes!" he expected left the kids lips with the same hope and happiness he expected.

"Right then, off we go." With his free hand Vicvin shoot one of his daggers grappling hooks into a tree branch and swung off into the direction of the voices and lights while hearing the back and forth between a worried mother and her foolishly brave and kind son.

* * *

Vicvin was now traveling to Ivory's camp with Ivory's mother and the other members of Ivory's clan that came to look for him.

'And you thought you wouldn't be missed.' Vicvin thought as he carried the now sleeping boy to the camp.

"Can you really help my son or did you just say that for his sack?" Ivory's mother asked, hope and sadness both present in her question.

"Yes Mrs. Ivory, I am sure I can cure him." Vicvin said assuringly "I have seen your sons condition before, but only once. It is a rare disease called Vascular Aura Disease. A mutation caused by excess contact with Grimm essence when one is still in the womb but also because of genetic circumstances. It affects a person's Aura network causing the Aura limiter everyone is born with to actual siphon Aura continuously from the body. In other words the body is drained of its life force and the person eventually dies." Looking to Ivory's mother Vicvin could see she was starting to blame herself for her son's condition. "It isn't your fault and the last thing this kid needs is his mother blaming herself, he needs your encouragement, especially during the surgery I will have to perform on him, though Ivory will be doing most of the work."

"What do you mean by that?" Ivory's mother said hesitantly.

"You see to actually cure your son I have to perform surgery not on his body but his soul. This is where aura is emanates from and where his problem lies. I will help open his Aura network but he will have to actually will the blockage out himself. But don't worry too much about that part. I know for a fact that he will be able to do it."

"And how can you be so sure?"

"When was it that you or whoever tried to unlock his Aura?"

"I did and when he was around five. He's nine now."

"Well that just proves he will survive. You see this disease is fast acting, taking effect as soon as someone tries to unlock the person's Aura, they usually die within hours but your sons been holding on for four years. There's no way he won't pull through" And with that said they reached the camp.

It was rather large, around the size of a normal size village but instead of houses there were only tepees.

Vicvin had this nagging urge at the back of his mind to ask Ivory's mother about their clan as he knew for a fact there should be no humans living in the Shadow Lands but here they were defining his logic and the logic of every other person on Remnants.

He wanted to but Ivory came first and there would be a time for questions when Ivory was cured.

Ivory's mother lead them to her tepee and Vicvin laid Ivory on a fur rug.

"Alright let us begin the surgery." Vicvin said out of the blue and startling Ivory's mother.

"But he's asleep!" Ivory's mother said with a shriek.

"All the better, he is calm and the surgery needs to be done when the patient is calm so they can better concentrate on removing the blockage and do not worry as I operate on him he will know what to do. He will feel it."

"But how can you be so sure! What if he can't!?"

"Then he will die fighting to live, but if we don't try he will die and soon. I don't even think he will survive another year judging by the deterioration of his legs and the rest of his body."

Dumbstruck Ivory's mother asked one final question. "Will it hurt?"

"Excruciatingly so, but he has survived this long and like I said before, he won't give up until he is cured and no longer a burden to you all. That is what he told me." Vicvin said as he grabbed Ivory's mothers hand and moved it towards Ivory's.

She grabbed Ivory's hand hoping her son will make it.

Ivory reflexively grabbed his mothers hand in return; still asleep as smile crept over his face.

"Hold his hand but do nothing else, he needs to know you're with him but he must do this himself." Nodding her head she held Ivory's hand firmly.

And with that the surgery began.

* * *

AN: And like that I have joined the RWBY phenomenon. For those of you expecting a new chapter to Bleach: Death 101 it will be a while before I get that up but I there is a sneak peek at whats to come at the end of this authors notes. For those just reading my RWBY fanfic let me just say thank you. This won't be the main series I'll be working on but I will work on it so don't worry. Also a cyber cookie for whoever can figure out who I based Vicvin Stein on (I know it's obvious but oh well), Please review and thanks again for reading.

* * *

'I should be waking up soon. Will I have this dream again soon?'

As the boy thought this something began to happen to his surroundings.

The white light began to fade but instead of going back to the void he was in before that same void seemed to begin to fill with a white liquid from below.

It had a disgusting feel to it as it began to harden around his body.

He knew this was not a part of the recurring dream he has been having.

Actually he knew quite well what this stuff was and more specifically who it was from.

'Oi, stop crying and get up already. I'm hungry.'

'Even in my dreams you nag me, Sasha.'

* * *

Sneak Peek Over!


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